Posthumanist Praxis and the Paradoxes of Agency, Responsibility, and Organization in the ‘Anthropocene’

Abstract

Initially framed as a provocation intended to challenge the exclusion of human activity from studies of long-term physical changes in the earth system, the Anthropocene remains an essentially contested concept. Despite its increasing prevalence across multiple disciplines and fields, there is little consensus over its veracity either as a geological, socio-environmental or socio-historical hypothesis. But for anyone committed to thinking seriously about what used to be called society-environment relations, engagement with the Anthropocene is now inescapable. This chapter engages with the Anthropocene from the perspective of posthumanist thought, arguing that whilst the concept is riddled with contradictions, tensions, and potential flaws, these are also productive paradoxes which can contribute to our thinking, ethics, and politics in the context of the spiralling ecological crisis. The discussion undertakes a critical posthumanist reading of the Anthropocene, with particular attention to its central paradoxes around agency and responsibility, and the implications for various influential approaches to environmental politics and green social transition.